Prep Girls Hoops: Boylan defeats Hononegah in regional championship

ROCKTON - Boylan's Allie Zimmerman said she had a pair of fresh legs when she re-entered in the fourth period against Hononegah in Thursday's Class 4A Hononegah Regional girls basketball final game.

The junior guard's play was much needed down the stretch. She scored four of her nine points, including a 3-pointer in the game's final minutes to help the Titans win their first regional title since 2010 in a 59-47 victory over Hononegah.

"I wanted to do whatever I can to help the team," said Zimmerman, who earlier competed in the tournament's 3-point shooting contest and advanced to the next round. "I had been out, so I when I came in, I came in with fresh legs."

The Titans (25-4) led by as many as 15 points in the fourth, but the Indians rallied and even things on Amy Dal Santo's 3-point play that made it 47-47 with 3:10 left in the game.

That helped set up Zimmerman's heroics when she hit a 3-pointer giving the Titans a 50-47 lead with 2:02 left. Later after getting fouled, Zimmerman caught her own missed free throw setting up another foul situation for the team. Kayla Steward went to the line and converted 1-of-2 free throws to extend the Titans lead at 51-47. The Titans went on to outscore the Indians 8-0 to secure the win.

"Allie shoots well," Boylan coach Paul Perrone said. "That's why in the 3-point contest, she was hot and I wanted to get her in because she is our team's leading 3-point shooter during the season in practice. I wanted to put her out there and by God, she came through for us."

Boylan senior Jensen Blassage led all scorers with 23 points.

"This feels great," Blassage said. "Our goal this season was to get this regional win. Hononegah has always been a great rival and great competitors."

Last time the two NIC-10 teams met was on Jan. 31 and the Titans won 69-54, snapping the Indians 58-game conference winning streak.

In that game, Steward had a game-high 31 points, but was limited to five points Thursday.

"Our game plan was to stop Steward, and that what's we did," said Hononegah senior Karley Kolberg, who had nine points. "We carried that out. We stopped her. She couldn't score much, but it was just hard to stop the rest of their team, while stopping her as well."

Boylan had eight players score in the game against the Indians, who won the NIC-10 title and finished the season at 24-8. Dal Santo led the Indians with 11 points and Brandi Fier had 10.

"Hononegah had a terrific season," Perrone said. "They are such a well-disciplined team. This was a battle between two teams that should have been playing for a sectional title instead of a regional championship."

Boylan advances to play at 8 p.m. Tuesday against either Cary Grove or Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge in a semifinal at the Crystal Lake South Sectional.